nicolescherzingerfandomcom-20200214-history
Killer Love (album)
Killer Love is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Nicole Scherzinger, former lead singer of The Pussycat Dolls. It was released from March 18, 2011 in international markets by Interscope Records, in association with its affiliated record labels. Production Scherzinger had been working on a solo album since 2005, under the title Her Name Is Nicole and was originally due for release in 2007. However unsuccessful singles and poor timing led the project being pushed back numerous times into 2008 and 2009. After releasing The Pussycat Dolls' second album Doll Domination, Scherzinger shelved the project entirely citing bad timing and creative issues as the reasons for its cancellation. Many of its songs were re-assigned to the Dolls or other artists. In 2010 Moroccan producer RedOne was brought on board for a second attempt at launching her solo album. Completed in 2010 and titled Killer Love, Scherzinger's debut album features a combination of up-tempo pop songs, as well as mid-tempo and down-tempo ballads. Songs contain influences of rock, soul and funk music, with the specific aim of selecting songs and productions which would lend themselves to being performed live. Amongst the fourteen-song set are two collaborations, one with Enrique Iglesias, and one with Sting, the latter of which was leftover from the Her Name is Nicole recording sessions. RedOne and his associates produced almost half of the album, while other contributions come from the likes of Jim Jonsin, StarGate, The-Dream, Tricky Stewart and Boi-1da. Killer Love was preceded by the release of the RedOne-produced lead single, "Poison" which respectively peaked at number three and number seven in the UK and Ireland, becoming one of Scherzinger's highest charting solo singles. It received mainly positive critical reception for establishing Scherzinger with her own sound and identity. A second single "Don't Hold Your Breath" would go on to top the UK charts and reach top-five in Ireland. In an attempt to launch the album worldwide a new version of "Right There" featuring verses from 50 Cent was released and although it reached top-five in the UK and top-ten in Ireland it peaked at thirty-nine in the United States. To date it is Scherzinger's first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist. One final single would be released from this version of the album, the Rihanna-esque up-tempo song "Wet" which became her fourth consecutive top-ten hit in Ireland. A re-packaged version of the album spawned a brand new mid-tempo single titled "Try with Me". It gave Scherzinger her fifth consecutive top-twenty hit in the UK and helped the album to reach platinum status in the United Kingdom. Upon its release, Killer Love received mixed to positive response from critics. Some praised Scherzinger's strong vocals and conviction to convey emotion, while others criticized her choice of allowing RedOne to produce the majority of the album, stating that some of the songs sounded too similar to each other. At times it was felt that Scherzinger lacked coherence across the record, often taking the sound that individual producers had created for her instead of showing originality. Critics compared many of the songs to those her fellow pop and R&B contemporaries: Beyoncé and Rihanna. Scherzinger intended to record new material for an alternative version Killer Love to be released in the United States, however, such release never came to happen.